


Surefire

by fearnotthedemons



Series: She's a Goddamn Hero [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff, Kissing, One Shot, Romance, but the enemies part is in the past okay, right now theyre just In Love, this is so self-indulgent lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 21:08:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15804615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fearnotthedemons/pseuds/fearnotthedemons
Summary: We're scared to love but it's alright.





	Surefire

**Author's Note:**

> I was just trying to practice writing kisses (based off of zero personal experience and loads of reading lol) but things got out of hand and now here we are

There was something frighteningly close to intimacy in the way Nathaniel’s fingers brushed against Vairë’s as they walked the battlements of Vigil’s Keep. An insistent spark of possibility jolted up her arm at every subtle touch, the feeling familiar as it was foreign.

 

She hadn’t experienced anything like that since Tamlen, and it scared her more than she cared to admit.

 

With him it was always so easy, like something out of the storybooks. They had been best friends for as far back as she could remember. Even Ashalle had trouble recalling a time the two of them weren’t joined at the hip. From the oldest hahren to the youngest child, everyone in the clan agreed that their young romance was as inevitable as the spring rains. It seemed meant to be, right up until the point she was tainted, conscripted, and Tamlen presumed dead.

 

With Nathaniel it was...complicated. They first met because he snuck into her castle with the intent to kill her - vengeance for the loss of his father. That encounter ended with the surly archer taking his family possessions with him as he was set free, for all intents and purposes never to be heard from again. An act of mercy. “You are not your father,” she had told him. Not two weeks later he came crawling back, the man who proclaimed to hate Vairë Mahariel above all else begging her to join the Warden’s ranks. After that she endured months of his spiteful, contrary behavior, until the only possible way for their strained relationship to go was up.

 

Now almost a year after the Mother and the Architect’s downfall, Nathaniel walked contentedly at Vairë’s side, her second-in-command and one of the closest friends she had at the Vigil.

 

“Care to tell me where we’re going, Howe?” she asked, breaking their companionable silence with a playful nudge. “If you’re hoping to lure me to the top of my own castle to murder me, I’m sorry to say you’re out of luck; The guards’ll catch you before you can say ‘assassination attempt’.”

 

Nathaniel snorted a laugh. “Always so dramatic! I only tried to kill you once--”

 

“--A slight I may never recover from--”

 

“--and besides, we’re almost there,” he finished with an air of irritation, not quite successful in keeping the fond smile from creeping onto his face.

 

Moments later, they came to a stop at the highest point of Vigil’s Keep. Golden light permeated the evening air, the sunset just beginning to paint the sky an assortment of pinks and oranges that lit up the surrounding countryside. Vairë sighed at the sight, trying to take in as much of the view as she could while the sun still shone. Constantly wrapped up in protecting it, she sometimes forgot how beautiful Ferelden truly was. It was nice to take a step back and just appreciate it.

 

“I used to come here, as a child,” Nathaniel told her without taking his eyes from the horizon. “It was a peaceful place for me to hide away, escape the hostility of my family life. I hoped it would be a peaceful place for you, too.”

 

“Thanks, Nate.” She flashed him a brief but brilliant smile, touched that he would want to share something so personal.

 

He hesitated then, seemingly torn between silence and saying something more. Vairë looked up at him encouragingly, features softened by the late evening light.

 

“I also hoped we could talk...alone,” he admitted after a pause, the faintest beginning of a blush dusting the top of his cheeks.

 

“We _are_ alone,” she said, looking up to find him closer than he was before.

 

“Vairë..I...I wanted to...”

 

Nathaniel reached out and cupped her face in his hand, gently, hesitantly, and brushed a trembling thumb across her lower lip.

 

They were impossibly close, leaning ever closer.

 

“Yes?” she whispered, breath catching in the back of her throat. Nathaniel’s gaze flitted between her eyes and lips as he leaned closer still. Vairë’s eyes began to flutter shut.

 

And then he was kissing her, and kissing and kissing and _kissing_. Like his life depended on it, like she was the air he needed so desperately to breathe.

 

He could barely contain a smile when she kissed back with just as much fervor, standing on her tiptoes and clutching at his shirt like it was the only thing anchoring her to this world.

 

Nathaniel could have stayed like that forever, Vairë wrapped securely in his arms as he finally put into action what words just couldn’t describe. She was everything to him - _everything_. Only a lack of oxygen broke them apart, leaving the pair standing forehead to forehead, gasping for breath and smiling like fools.

 

“ _Fuck_ ,” she laughed breathlessly, still processing what had happened. “That was infinitely better than an assassination attempt. How long have you wanted to do that?”

 

“Longer than I should say,” Nathaniel admitted, smiling softly down at her. This was far from the moody, guarded man who had planned to kill her all those months ago. There was so much emotion in the way he looked at her, so much raw and genuine love, that Vairë was left speechless.

 

“What?” he asked, brow quirked at her awed silence.

 

“Nothing, it’s just--” she paused, trying to come up with the proper words. “You’ve never looked at me like that before.”

 

He hummed, mischief sparking in his eyes. “You mean you’ve never caught me looking at you like that before.”

“I-- Oh.” Heat rushed through her face and up to the tips of her pointed ears as she was once again rendered speechless.

 

It was enough to make Nathaniel laugh - truly laugh - and after a moment Vairë couldn’t help but join in.

 

“You oaf,” she accused, shoving his arm playfully. “Is this how you woo all your women? By embarrassing them?”

 

“Just you, my lady.” His smirk was insufferable.

 

“Mocking me, Howe? I could have your head for that, you know.”

 

His voice dropped an octave as he whispered, “Will my heart suffice?”

 

Vairë punched his arm in earnest that time, but couldn’t keep the smile from her face. Creators help her, she loved the man.

 

Yanking Nathaniel down to her level by the front of his tunic, she spent a long moment pretending to consider his offer.

 

“I suppose it will have to do,” she finally decided, a fond sort of mischief in her eyes as she pulled him down for another kiss.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Kudos/comments greatly appreciated :)


End file.
